What a year... thank you for being part of it all
Hi Everyone!
Richard here, CEO of Sim-Lab.
I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank you and share a short recap of the year, along with an outlook for 2025.
We’ve had an incredible year behind us, filled with successes on different fronts. Obviously, the collaboration with the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team was, for me personally, one of my biggest achievements with Sim-Lab. For them to release such detailed IP into the market is quite extraordinary and unprecedented in the history of Formula 1. By working closely together, we at Sim-Lab got a glimpse into the working ethics of a world champion-winning Formula One team, which ultimately led to the launch of the Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS Formula One Sim Racing Steering Wheel. We’re excited to get this product into the hands of sim racers, but we also recognize that it’s not obtainable for everyone. Rest assured, we’re actively working on other steering wheels as we speak.
The product that really made headlines was, of course, the announcement of the Sim-Lab Direct-Drive base, which we are planning to release at the end of next year. With an incredible team behind its development, we are very confident we will be setting a new standard in the industry. Starting from scratch has allowed us to create the best possible hardware to drive force feedback into the future. The feedback from sim racers who tested it at the Sim Racing Expo was great. In the coming months, we’ll be diving deep into the technology—not just to leave the community with promises, but to explain exactly what we’re doing and why it’s better than the current offerings. A key part of this is how we handle the incoming data from the sim. At the heart of our system, we’ve developed an optimized microprocessor that processes HID force feedback signals in real-time at incredible closed-loop speeds, seamlessly integrating them into the main force feedback loop.
With several products in development, the outlook for 2025 is packed with exciting launches. Starting with the SQ1 Sequential Shifter, which we showcased at the Sim Racing Expo in Germany, it’s a perfect example of our design philosophy at Sim-Lab: high-quality materials, a complete and innovative feature set, an aesthetically pleasing design, and optimization for low-cost production that directly benefits the customer. A standout feature of the SQ1 is the replaceable adapters that alter the clicking feel. Yes, we listened to your feedback at the Expo! These adapters now include a clean no-click option, along with a pronounced clicking feel, and will be included in the kit.
Our XP1 Loadcell pedals have steadily gained traction and received critical acclaim from the community. While the pedal market is highly competitive with many great options, we’ve seen our pedals getting traction in the community and are optimistic this will continue into 2025.
So, what else do we have in the pipeline? We have a few other licensed products under development that we unfortunately can’t disclose just yet. However, we’re confident they will have as much impact as the releases we’ve seen this year.
On the operational side, we’ve worked hard to ensure our growing business runs like clockwork. Maintaining top-notch support and customer satisfaction remains a priority. In 2025, we’ll introduce a new back-end ticket system to improve email response times and accuracy as well as online chat functionality.
2025 will officially be the year Sim-Lab completes its journey to offering a fully functioning sim racing cockpit. We’re excited to reach this milestone and continue leading the way with competitively priced, high-quality sim racing gear for everyone to enjoy.
A key highlight of the year was our partnership with Micro Center, enabling sim racers across the U.S. to experience Sim-Lab products firsthand. This collaboration has been instrumental in expanding our reach, allowing more sim racing enthusiasts to enjoy high-quality gear without long wait times or international shipping challenges. It’s a partnership we’re incredibly proud of, and we’re excited to see it grow even further in the coming year.
We can't conclude without highlighting Grid Engineering. Over the past months, we've been dedicated to enhancing the manufacturing processes for our products, a journey that took a bit longer than expected. Fortunately, we're excited to announce that pre-orders have recently reopened with overwhelming success. Looking ahead, our key partnership with Porsche AG remains at the forefront, and together, we’re committed to delivering cutting-edge, high-end products as we move into 2025 and beyond.
Thank you for an amazing 2024, and here’s to an even better 2025. Your support, feedback, and enthusiasm are what drive us to push the boundaries of sim racing.
Oh, and one more exciting announcement: next year, we’ll be hosting a series of Esports events open to everyone later this year, with some incredible prizes to be won! Keep an eye on our socials for more information soon.
All the best,
Richard
CEO, Sim-Lab